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When Your Gut Feeling Is Right

When Your Gut Feeling Is Right
Photo by Jaclyn Moy on Unsplash

We all have that little voice inside of us that tells us what to do and warns us of impending doom. These Redditors listened to their spidey senses and got themselves out of some sticky situations. Keep reading to hear their harrowing tales; they will reaffirm that everyone should indeed trust their gut!

1. Through The Looking Grass

man in blue and red motorcycle suit riding motocross dirt bikePhoto by Billy Freeman on Unsplash

I almost drove through a big patch of tall grass on my dirt bike just for fun, but at the last second hit the brakes and turned around. I didn't know why. The next time I went there, I made a chilling discovery: I found out that there was a 75-foot cliff over a river right behind it that I would have just flown off of at top speed. Because of the scenery, you couldn't tell at all by looking ahead at it. I still don't know what made me stop back then.

Quiet_Stranger_5622

2. Nerves Of Steel

Danger Hard Hat Area signagePhoto by Kevin Jarrett on Unsplash

I was working in the sales office at an engineering company. I was asked to record the serial numbers off a stack of large steel plates on the shop floor. I had to get someone with crane operating experience to lift the top plate so I could read the one underneath. The guy lifted it directly upwards about six feet. I was just about to lean underneath when I stopped dead: A little voice inside my head said, "Don't do that, mate".

“Get him to move the overhead plate to one side". Just as I thought that the clamp holding the plate failed and it fell to the ground right in front of me. It must've weighed about a ton. If it'd fallen on my head, I would have been an instant goner.

dineramallama

3. The Eyes Said It All

closeup photography of man's eyePhoto by ahmed zid on Unsplash

My GF met up with a work friend at a bar. This girl was with a guy who gave me seriously bad vibes. He was fake-friendly, but his eyes were crazy; my GF didn't see it. I wasn't having it. I told her I was leaving, and she really needed to come. We fought, I left, and she came running after. The next morning, we found what he'd done, and my blood ran cold. Turns out, out the guy put a knife through someone's chest later that night. I straight-up said, “I told you so. He was crazy”.

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4. Caught By A Cough

black handle knife on green grass field during daytimePhoto by Mirvuqar Abdulov on Unsplash

My boyfriend at the time and I were housesitting for his uncle. My boyfriend was at work, and I was bathing our son before bed. I had the bathroom window very slightly cracked and heard a cough from outside. This house was in a residential neighborhood, so it could have been a neighbor. Then the weirdest thing happened. I suddenly felt anxious and scared. I literally felt a chill go down my spine. Something told me to go make sure the back door was locked.

I left my two-year-old son alone in a towel in the bathroom and ran to the back door. As I placed my hand on the doorknob, locking it, I came face to face with someone through the glass, who had his hand on the outside doorknob. He started pounding on the door and jiggling the doorknob, saying he was looking for someone. I just told him, “No, they're not here”.

He kept jiggling the doorknob. I ran to my son and grabbed my cell phone to call for help. I was housesitting, so I had no idea what the address was or where the house phone was. I called emergency services from the bathroom on my cell while hearing loud pounding on the back door. The dispatcher told me to find a house phone, piece of mail, or anything with an address.

I located the house phone and called from that. I have no idea how the authorities got there so quickly, but just as I heard the back door glass break, the guy on the phone told me to cover my son’s head with a blanket and run out the front door into the backseat of the officer’s car. I ran out the front door and saw six or more cruisers, and went straight into the waiting car.

After they cuffed the guy, they asked me if the machete on the back porch belonged to the owners of the house. Had I not trusted my gut that the cough sounded a little too close and to check the back door, he would've walked right into an unlocked house with a 19-year-old female and her young son alone. He had been burglarizing houses and had a backpack full of pilfered goods and was also high.

Liketheweatherpnw

5. Move It Or Lose It

brown cardboard boxes on white metal rackPhoto by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash

I was a temp worker at a warehouse. One day, my boss—who had no training on the forklift—told me to climb up on a ladder and move something out of the way. My gut said, "Tell her to turn the forklift off first", so I did. She scoffed and said it was unnecessary, so she got this other guy to move it because I was being "difficult".

I wish I hadn't been so right. She moved the fork up and smashed his fingers against the ceiling, breaking every finger on his hand aside from his thumb.

xarthos

6. Man’s Best Friend

black labrador retriever puppy in close up photographyPhoto by Ryan Phillips on Unsplash

My first black lab was about ten months old when we went to a local park early one morning to walk the trails. We had just finished a long trail and were resting. I was sitting on a bench when my dog's hair stood up, and he started to growl. When I looked up, I saw a man walking toward me. His eyes didn't look right, and I knew he was high.

When my dog growled, he stopped. He gave a smirky smile and asked if my dog would bite. I told him he definitely would if the guy came any closer. He hesitated for a moment, and then he turned and walked away. To this day, I am certain he meant to harm me. If I hadn't trusted my dog, I hate to think what would have happened.

angelangelica16

7. The Man In The Van

yellow van parked beside brown brick buildingPhoto by Claudio Schwarz on Unsplash

When I was 10, I was walking to my friend’s house. A van stopped me to ask for directions to the park. A man was driving, and the female passenger was the one who spoke to me. We had been taught in school—and by my parents—that adults should never ask kids for directions. In school, they told us if anyone ever stops you, take a giant step back before running away, so they can't grab you.

So, I took a step back and told them I didn’t know where the park was. The lady said, "I can't hear you; come closer". At that moment, I knew in my gut something was wrong. Out of fear, I almost listened to her, but then the sliding door on the van started to open, and I took off running faster than I'd ever run in my life. I ran all the way to my friend’s house. I told her parents everything, and they called my parents and the authorities.

The authorities came to her house and talked to me. They said that two other kids in our neighborhood reported the same van stopping and trying to talk to them. It was weird because before the van even stopped beside me, I had this sick feeling in my gut. As soon as it started rolling down the street, I knew something bad was about to happen. It was a couple of months before I had the guts to walk to my friend’s house again.

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8. A Mother’s Intuition

a car that is sitting in the grassPhoto by Tobias Tullius on Unsplash

I was always a good kid, and my mom knew all of my friends. I asked to go on a small road trip with a friend during my senior year to see a college, plus go to a party there the friend knew about. My mom agreed. Then, suddenly, before the weekend trip, she just said, “No, I don’t want you to go. It doesn’t feel right.” She gave no explanation, so I was confused and furious at her as my friend was leaving.

I knew she was going to have so much fun with cute college boys and touring the campus. She barely made it an hour away and her car was T-boned by a truck, destroying the passenger side where I would have been.

Snarkybish03

9. Mama’s Man Was A Monster

When I was a teen, my mother was dating this “cool” guy. To my mother, he was a catch. He was built and very friendly and charismatic, however, I never liked him. This man just always made my skin crawl and my gut would go crazy when he was around. I would argue with my mother constantly because she would get mad that I didn't comply and I would always keep my siblings away.

I would make sure to be mean and annoying, and just a complete jerk to him and my mom when he was around. He left her after a few months and she blamed me for it. A few months later, his picture was in the local news. When I read the story, my stomach dropped. He was taken into custody for child trafficking. I remember yelling at my mother and pointing my finger at her, telling her I knew he was a bad man! Thanks to me, my siblings weren't his next victims!

zeronopes

10. He Couldn’t Stomach The Pain

man wiping mouse with tissue paperPhoto by Brittany Colette on Unsplash

My husband and I weren't married at the time, but we had just bought a house and were living the dream. One night, I woke up at about 3 AM and he wasn't in bed. I walked out to the living room to find him on the couch. I asked if he was OK and he said yes; his stomach just hurt and he didn't want to wake me by getting up. Then, he ran to the bathroom to puke.

All the hair on the back of my neck stood up, and I asked him, "Where does your stomach hurt"? As he was doubling over, he told me on his right side. Alarm bells started going off in my head. I told him to get dressed, and that we were going to the ER. He tried to protest, but I MADE him get in the car with a bucket and some electrolytes. It was about a 40-minute drive to the hospital, and we made it about halfway before he made me pull over, and begged for the pain to stop.

I thought he wasn’t going to make it. We got to the ER, and they gave him meds, drew blood, and did an ultrasound. It showed a stone passing, and they said he would be OK in a few hours, but they would follow up with surgery. It didn't sit right with me. They said his white blood count wasn't elevated, but it was. Granted, it was only a little and could be explained by the stone passing.

His pain took three days to go away, and he was still not great even after that. Six days after the ER visit, we had our appointment with the surgery department. She said that the reason it took a hot minute for his pain to go away was actually that the stone was stuck and too big to pass. There was a very slight thickening of his gallbladder, which could suggest a little infection, so better to take the gallbladder out in the next week or so.

I still had an incredibly uneasy feeling. My husband had no fever, no more pain, and no symptoms, but something was WRONG. I don't know how I knew, but I KNEW. The case manager came in and said that they had an opening for surgery the next day. My husband said that he needed a few days to arrange for work, etc., and the case manager said no problem.

When they left to get the schedule, I looked at my husband and told him to do the surgery the next day; I begged him until he caved. The 45-minute laparoscopic surgery turned into four hours of opening him up the old-fashioned way, a gallbladder moments away from bursting, infected on the inside AND the outside, filled with pockets of infection, and dying. Even the bile ducts had pockets of infection.

His surgeon had never seen one so bad, especially not on someone who walked into the hospital feeling FINE on their own two feet that morning. The tests showed it was salmonella. The pathologist in infectious diseases didn't believe the person it came out of was alive and came up to see him in recovery. Had any of the pockets burst, or had the gallbladder itself burst, he would have been septic with salmonella.

The surgeon said that it would have ended his life before they figured out it was salmonella and got the right antibiotic into him. He spent four more days in the hospital, had seven more procedures to put in stents where the bile ducts were because they weren't healing, and four months of a drainage tube sticking out his side. But he's here, and alive today because I just KNEW something was wrong from the start.

KknhgnhInepa0cnB11

11. Almost Up A Tree

man in orange shirt sitting on tree branchPhoto by henry perks on Unsplash

A couple of years ago, we had a ton of snow and a delayed spring. When the snow finally started to melt, it was very rapid. So much so that some areas had little creeks forming. My dad and I were on a walk on a trail and stopped to admire a culvert that got torn apart by the newly formed river. A large tree had already fallen down onto the path because the ground had completely eroded at the base.

I was looking at another tree near the riverbank and thought it was likely going to fall in a day or two. "That tree is going to fall too I bet" I told him. I watched it swaying slightly for a moment. Then it stopped swaying, and I just stared at it for a couple seconds. Then I went into full panic mode. I yelled, “Run”, and we just ran without looking back while several trees all started coming down in a chain reaction. The tree I was mesmerized by struck right where we were standing.

Regnes

12. Close To Being Cooked

black and white gas stovePhoto by KWON JUNHO on Unsplash

I was living in Spain with my best friend while we studied Spanish. One evening, we were feeling sluggish and a bit off after eating dinner. We barely made it through half a movie before we looked at each other and discussed whether we were becoming sick, and should just call it an early evening and head to bed. We quickly got ready for bed, feeling sickish.

I was turning off the lights in the living room when I had a lightbulb moment of checking out the gas. We were using a gas stove where you had to turn the gas thingy on and off upon using the stove itself. It turned out the gas was still on after we turned the stove off after cooking. It was leaking gas into the small apartment we lived in the entire evening. If we would have gone to sleep, we would have never woken up again.

rando_bowner

13. My Train Of Thought Saved Me

red chevrolet camaro on road during daytimePhoto by Meritt Thomas on Unsplash

I was driving home from a friend’s house in my Mustang late one night. I was getting it down a back road when I heard this loud, “SLOW DOWN NOW” in my head; it was louder than the music I had cranked up. I immediately slowed down to well below the speed limit, and when I came around the next turn, there was a train coming across the unmarked tracks.

There were warning signs about the tracks, and I knew they were there as I had traveled that road many times. However, there were no lights or cross arms, and I had never seen a train on those tracks before. Add that to the fact that there were woods on either side of the road, it would be almost impossible to know if a train was coming at night.

Thephilosopherkmh

14. The Odds Were Looking Bad

people dancing inside room with green lightsPhoto by Antoine J. on Unsplash

When I was in my late teens/early 20s, I was with a girlfriend at a club. We met some guys who said they were throwing a party. I was driving, so I figured it couldn't hurt to check it out. We got to a hotel room and it was just us two girls with at least four guys. I already felt something bad would happen, but I decided to drink as much of their booze before bugging out.

I remember quite vividly standing at the mini fridge and my friend was sitting on one of the two beds. She was holding a drink and talking about how sloshed she was when these guys started moving in on her like a group of hyenas. I immediately knew we had to get out. I just walked over to her and told her I needed to talk to her outside.

I grabbed her by the wrist and kept walking down the stairs from the hotel door. She fought me the entire time, and I had to scream at her to get in the car. By the time the guys figured out we were leaving, they were at the door of their room, throwing things at my car. I know I saved my friend from a very dangerous situation.

Donthurlemogurlx

15. Down The Dark Alley

empty street between buildings during night timePhoto by Morica Pham on Unsplash

I finished work late. After I get off the bus, I usually walk through an alley that's pitch black. That night, my gut told me, “Take the big detour”, so I did. The next morning three bodies were found in that alley. The time of their passing was three minutes after I decided to take the other route. That alley was specifically known for a lot of illicit activities. Unfortunately, the gang members got the wrong people—they were tourists.

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16. Baby Tomorrow Would Be Too Late

closeup photography of pregnant woman wearing blue pantyPhoto by Ignacio Campo on Unsplash

I realized in my 39th week of pregnancy that my baby hadn't been moving as much in the past 36 hours. I decided it was best to make sure everything was all right, so we went to the ER. I had preeclampsia, and the baby had the umbilical cord around his neck, swimming in meconium. They put me on magnesium sulfate to bring my blood pressure down and gave me an emergency C-section. My son and I needed a few days to recover, but we're alive and well now. If I had decided to keep waiting, both of us might not have made it.

JessonBI89

17. Hat’s Off To Mom

black and orange metal machine on green grass field during daytimePhoto by David Thielen on Unsplash

I was working for an oilfield company, and we were doing some maintenance on a hydraulic pump jack. I had to be lifted in a basket about twenty feet in the air by the crane I was working on to loosen a couple of nuts so we could remove a part. Once I got up there, I took my hard hat off because it was so hot out. I figured, “Hey, what could possibly drop on my head when I'm higher up than anything around me?”

I loosened the first nut and then thought about how mad my mom would be if something happened, so I put my hard hat back on. When I loosened the last nut, the pump jack torpedoed up because the operator hadn't depressurized it like he said he had. This massive nut flew straight up in the air, and before I could figure out what was happening, it landed square on my hard hat.

I've never experienced anything like it. The force made me drop to my knees. The guy operating the crane saw me drop and immediately lowered the basket to the ground. I walked away with a kink in my neck and a huge dent in my hard hat. I often think about what would have happened if I hadn't put it back on.

OCDalyn

18. DVT Almost Ended Me

a red emergency sign in front of a large buildingPhoto by Robert Linder on Unsplash

A couple of weeks into recovering from a fractured hip, I noticed my calf/foot turning red when standing up. A day or so later, it felt like a minor muscle cramp in my calf, and my foot was a little clammy. My mom said I was overthinking it, but I knew something was wrong and went to the ER. I was diagnosed with a deep vein thrombosis, then five days later had a pulmonary embolism.

Had I not gotten it checked out as quickly as I did, the clot could have continued to grow, which would have increased its potential danger. Thankfully, the clot was small, and the damage was minimal all things considered!

MilkyWeekend420

19. Blame It On The Rain

a close up of a rain covered windowPhoto by Eastman Childs on Unsplash

I was casually walking home, and then a drop of water fell on my head. My first thought was, “Is it raining”? However, for some reason, my gut was all like, “Run”! So, naturally, I listened to my gut and ran. As I was doing so, a whole air conditioner came crashing down at the exact spot where I was standing.

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20. Seconds Away From Sepsis

man in red shirt driving carPhoto by Mat Napo on Unsplash

I had a lot of congestion and a wicked cough for like a week, to the point that my ribs hurt. My doctor thought it was just a sinus infection that was draining into my ears and chest. Finally, my pain started to get worse. I figured it was just muscle soreness from all of the coughing I was doing, but something in my gut said to call for an ambulance.

By the time paramedics got to me a couple of minutes later, I was barely able to breathe. One look at their faces and I knew I was in serious trouble. It turned out that I had an abscess in my lung which had ruptured. The accumulated pus and fluid had collapsed my lung, and I was in the first stages of sepsis.

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21. Escape From Disaster

three man sitting on gray surfacePhoto by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash

I was at a party off campus with a very annoying friend of my then-girlfriend. We were waiting for my girlfriend and another of her friends to show up. The guys hosting the party were sketchy-looking and I had a “get a drink and get out” vibe. I was talking to someone I knew from class and I turned around and saw my wife’s friend, who was fine ten minutes prior, stumbling while some dude was walking her to the basement.

I ran over and told him to get off of my girlfriend and I was suddenly surrounded by three guys, telling me to get lost, and they were all partying downstairs. The guy who I was talking to walked over with some of his friends and I took the opportunity to get her out of the party, called my girlfriend, and told her not to go. We met up at the local Waffle House, and we fed her friend, gave her coffee, and got her to her room.

I later found out another girl wasn’t as lucky. The guys held her in the basement for three days. Even worse, they didn’t do a day in prison, because the girl left town and never came back. I always felt guilty about it, although I still don’t know what I could have done differently.

noiamnotsam

22. A Mistaken Midwife

person wearing gray shirt putting baby on scalePhoto by Christian Bowen on Unsplash

I had planned to have my second child at a birthing center with a midwife. I started to labor at home, and when it was time, we got to the birthing center. After about four hours of true laboring—pushing and all—they asked to check my cervix because I was not making any progress. They told me my cervix wasn’t all the way dilated. I told them it was time to go to a hospital and request a C-section.

They told me it was fine and my cervix would eventually dilate. I insisted, and they prepared my transfer. At the hospital, I told them that I needed a C-section. They assured me I was fine, and as I was pushing, there was talk amongst themselves about how the baby should be here any minute, and there was no way I was getting a C-section. They were horribly wrong.

No less than twenty minutes later, they couldn’t find the baby’s heartbeat and when they did, its heart rate was dropping rapidly, and mine was suddenly spiking to dangerous levels. The rest was a blur. I was pulled onto a bed and wheeled into the OR. The last thing I remember was my husband being pushed out of the OR and me saying just go; I'm going to be okay.

I woke up to my husband holding our beautiful daughter. If I hadn't gone to the hospital and listened to the midwife instead, my daughter and I might have both lost our lives that night.

Hev-e_D

23. Left In A Panic

a large truck with a large tank on the backPhoto by Jason Mitrione on Unsplash

When I was eight years old, we had a “special” quiz in school. It was worth a small amount of our grade but the rule was that we only got the points if we took it home, showed our parents, had them sign it, and returned it the next day. We lived a 40-minute drive from school and about halfway there, I started panicking and I didn’t know why.

We were between these two semi trucks, a gasoline tanker, and a cement truck. My mom pulled over so we could talk it out, and then I remembered my quiz! We were going to be early, so we sped home, grabbed the quiz, and headed back to school. As we got about two miles past where my mom had pulled off the road to talk to me, we saw that the cement truck had rear-ended the gas tanker, which then exploded.

The charred remains of both trucks, dozens of emergency vehicles of all kinds, and a huge swath of melted asphalt and burnt grass around the road told the story. Our little 1984-made subcompact would have been sandwiched right in the middle. My mom turned to me and said, “You should trust your panic attacks”.

hiyabankranger

24. Deep Sea Adventure

a person swimming in the water near a coral reefPhoto by Maja Novak on Unsplash

My ex and I were snorkeling. We were on holiday and spent most days at the beach snorkeling without incident, but something this day felt...different. We were snorkeling along a rocky area near a drop-off. I had this horrible feeling that we were being watched and felt very uneasy. I signaled my ex to the surface. I told him I felt weird and that we needed to go back to the beach.

He protested because he was having fun, but I was adamant. Lo and behold, we got to the beach, and everyone was standing and pointing to the water. We looked back to see a large bull shark coming close to the shore. Not long after, a helicopter was seen tracking it down the coast. My ex never questioned my intuition again.

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25. The Long Walk Home

person passing alone on bridge during nighttimePhoto by Andreas Rasmussen on Unsplash

My sister and I went to the city for our birthday. We stayed in a hotel downtown, and since we were so close, we decided to walk to the bar. We got there and were having a great time, but it was getting late. The last call rolled around, and I decided to get us one more drink each. A man was at the bar and we made conversation. He said he was alone, so I invited him to our table. I'd regret that decision almost immediately.

When we got to our table, another man was standing there talking to my sister. The men claimed to not know each other, stating that they were from completely different states, but they seemed quite chummy. Also, they were quite insistent that they needed to walk us to our hotel room. It hit me, and I knew something wasn't right.

I asked my sister to come to the bathroom with me, and I informed her that I felt something was off, but she just thought I was overreacting. I told her we couldn't walk, we had to get an Uber or Lyft. The last call came, and the staff told us we needed to leave. I asked them to please give us some time because we were trying to get a ride back to the hotel. For whatever reason, I could not get the Uber or Lyft app to work.

The staff told us they'd ask the guys to leave, and we could wait a few minutes, but then we had to go. My sister still thought nothing was wrong. We went to leave and both men were standing by the doors waiting on us. The staff told us we couldn’t stay any longer, but we could go out the back doors, so we did. But we weren't out of danger yet. We began walking down the alley and got to the sidewalk that would lead us back to our hotel, but we'd have to walk under this sketchy and dimly lit bridge.

My sister said if we ran, we could make it to the hotel. I told her no, because we didn't know where the men were. I spotted a night-shift city worker. We approached him and I explained the situation. We were still trying to get a ride, but it still wasn’t working. As we stood there with the city worker, the two men came walking around the corner together, and they headed straight for us.

The man that I was talking to at the bar got in my face and said, "What's wrong? You didn't want us to walk you"? I already had my pepper spray in hand, aiming. I told him, "Get away from us". He repeated the same questions while he stepped closer. I told him again with my finger on the trigger of the pepper spray and a loud, stern voice to "GET OUT OF MY FACE AND AWAY FROM MY SISTER".

They both walked away while glaring at us. We continued to stand with the city worker while we tried to get a ride, but it still wouldn't work. A group of officers came strolling down the sidewalk. I asked them to walk us, and they did all the way to the hotel. I'm very thankful for them and that I didn't leave my pepper spray. There's no telling what could've happened.

Numerous_Surprise517

26. Mishap At The Mall

Dunkin Coffee shop during daytimePhoto by Joan Oger on Unsplash

I had a rare day off work and decided to get some Christmas shopping done. It was late November and the mall near me was having some really good sales. But as I was driving there, I started having this weird anxious feeling. The closer I got, the more anxious and uneasy I felt. So, instead of going right to the mall, I stopped at Dunkin Donuts for a drink and snack.

I couldn’t shake the anxiety, so I sat in the parking lot for a bit while I ate and drank. I opened up the news on my phone and the first thing that popped up was a shooting at the mall I was headed to. I went straight home, and did all of my Christmas shopping online that year.

NoSleepNoCoffee1

27. Going The Bear Minimum

wildlife photography of brown bear cubPhoto by 🇸🇮 Janko Ferlič on Unsplash

I was in the Army, and working a late night in November; it was maybe past 9 PM. The road I would take back was a back road, which was fine to drive during the day, but there were zero streetlights, so I only had headlights to see the road. It was also a heavily wooded area. I told myself to drive below the speed limit in case a deer might pop out.

Right when I had the instinct, a bear cub ran right across the road. If I had been maintaining speed, I'd have hit the thing. Perhaps the cub would have gotten injured, but where there's a cub, there's bound to be its mother.

laineDdednaHdeR

28. Better Dread Ted

My gal pal and I were about 15–16 years old in 1975. We were at a rural county fair in WA State when a well-dressed man in his 30s came up to ask us to help him get his VW out of a ditch about a mile down the road. It didn’t make much sense that a man of that age would ask young girls when male officers and guys older than us were all over.

So, we told him to get lost and went to tell an officer this guy was asking this of us teenagers. When I was 21, I went to work for the same county’s Sheriff’s Department, and I saw that man’s picture posted everywhere. That man was Ted Bundy.

CharacterRest7829

29. Saved By A Second Opinion

two men wearing blue lab coatsPhoto by Olga Guryanova on Unsplash

I had my gallbladder removed, and I didn’t feel quite right afterward. I was told I was overreacting to normal pain at the hospital, but I was still uneasy and went to another afterward, against my surgeon’s recommendation. I ended up having an extra bile duct that wasn’t closed and was emptying into my abdomen. I was admitted for a while while they fixed it and then dealt with pancreatic issues that popped up from the damage.

29noodles

30. Rocketing Away From Doom

a red and white rocket ship flying through the skyPhoto by Andy Hermawan on Unsplash

In high school, we had an unhealthy preoccupation with making small explosives from model rocket engine powder. In this case, we used a spent CO2 cartridge packed full of the powder, with a short mortar fuse, stuffed inside a crab trap buoy—a monument to terrible decisions. I held the device as it was lit, intending to throw it, but the fuse burned out.

My friend said, “Maybe we should relight it”. I said forget it as I threw it as hard and as far as I possibly could. The styrofoam buoy landed some distance away, bounced once, and exploded with what sounded like a giant blast. There wasn’t a piece of that buoy left larger than a crumb, and the blast radius was wide. If I’d held on to that thing, the best-case scenario is that I wouldn’t have a right hand. Given the proximity to my face, it would likely have been much, much worse.

Hewfe

31. A Keen Eye For Danger

white and orange cat sitting on brown wooden tablePhoto by Kelly on Unsplash

I had two one-and-a-half-year-old cats as well as a six-month-old. I was giving my three cats supervised outside time. It was just before noon on a sunny day, which was a nice break from the fog we normally had. The cats were chasing butterflies, chattering at birds, eating cat grass, and getting buzzed on the catnip I grew for them. I was relaxing in my patio chair reading a book when suddenly I got the sense that something was amiss.

I looked up from my book and, out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw a flash of red and dark brown in a blurred reflection on the window of my sunroom. I just knew something was about to happen if I didn't act. I quickly called for my older cats to go inside, which they did.

Then, I looked over to the little one who was rolling around on a patch of warm cement just soaking up all the sun.

I walked over and stood above it when suddenly a red-tailed hawk had just circled around the corner of the house and was coming in hot. The hawk, having realized I moved and was now guarding the kitten, quickly aborted its attempt to snatch up the meal it so desired. Had my gut instinct not alerted me to the danger, my older cats and I would have surely been grieving over a much different story.

TheFrostyrune

32. Field Trip Fail

people inside dinosaur fossil museum during daytimePhoto by Chris Nguyen on Unsplash

In third grade, my class took a late springtime field trip to a famous museum on the East Coast. We all went outside to grab our lunches from the bus and eat on the concrete stairs that led to the entrance of the museum. I wasn't very hungry and finished early. The student-teacher ratio was high, so we weren't well chaperoned.

As others continued to eat their lunch, I decided to look around and kept walking until I found the side of the museum. It led to an empty alley. I looked for no more than two seconds before deciding to turn around. As soon as I did, my eyes met those of a man in his early 30s who was walking toward me. His eyes shifted, and I immediately started running back toward the group, shouting my teacher’s name, who was not even in sight.

The man immediately turned around and speed-walked back into the crowd of passersby on the sidewalk. I believe the man thought I was going to continue into the alley, upon which time he most likely would have attempted to abduct me. He seemed very surprised that I immediately sensed danger. I have little doubt that I would have gone missing if I had decided to continue exploring that alley.

DoesLogicHurtYou

33. Flipping Out

red truck on road during daytimePhoto by Josiah Farrow on Unsplash

We were coming home from a big trip. Our friends were in one car, my dad in another, and my mom, sisters, and me in the last car. I was 17 and learning how to drive. I was supposed to be driving to get some experience, but my mom decided last minute she would drive. I was a little mad, but she said she had a feeling. We were in our little convoy about to get on the highway when all of a sudden, our friend’s car went flying into the shoulder.

Mom and I were worried they blew a tire. Then suddenly, my dad’s car ran off into the shoulder. Then, we finally saw it: Before my mom and I could question why, a semi-truck was mid-flip and coming right at us. My mom, being the ninja she is, put the car in reverse and started driving BACKWARDS. The truck flipped again and landed on its side and was sliding toward us.

My mom had to slam on the brakes to avoid oncoming traffic. The truck slid to a stop 15 feet away from the car. Our friends and my dad were safe, and they rushed to the truck to help the driver and his wife. The driver had taken the turn too fast. His load got ahead of him, and he lost control. The wife was bleeding from a minor cut on her head, but luckily, no one was seriously hurt.

Arra13375

34. That Nothing Was Something

woman in red shirt sitting in front of computerPhoto by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash

I started showing symptoms of having serious health problems—passing out, seizures, etc. I went to a neurologist who sent me to one single MRI and deemed the mass in my brain to be “nothing”. My gut told me to not trust it, so I went to my doctor and asked for a second opinion. I was sent to a neurosurgeon who put me through a bunch of tests and procedures.

I found out that not only was it a brain tumor, but it was turning into something dangerous. It had the same mutation cells found only in cancer and in the big brain cancer that has a low survival rate. My gut feeling gave me a chance.

Brontolope11

35. A Double Scoop Of Danger

person holding ice creamPhoto by Kyle Hinkson on Unsplash

I was playing at my friend’s house when all of a sudden, a car pulled up. It was his dad, who was not allowed to see either of his sons and was not in the picture. He asked us, “Do y’all wanna get some ice cream”? I hesitated and said no and that I should ask my dad first. I went home right then. The next day, I didn’t see my friend, or the next day after that. Then the news got out.

The dad abducted both of his sons and took them to Brazil. It took months to get them back, as Brazil wouldn’t extradite them. Once the dad was back in the US, he ended up taking his own life. I didn’t see the oldest son until years later when we were doing driver’s ed together. I don’t know if something would’ve happened to me, but I’m glad I trusted my gut and went home.

tward1803

36. Running The Red

traffic light at yellowPhoto by Carlos Alberto Gómez Iñiguez on Unsplash

I was a teenager and first learning how to drive. I was at an intersection where a lot of accidents happen. For some reason, one day, even though the light turned green, I hesitated for just a bit longer than normal before proceeding into the intersection. Sure enough, about three seconds later, someone going way over the speed limit ran the red light for the intersection.

I'm almost positive I would've been a goner due to being T-boned super hard, as their timing would've been right on target to have collided, head-on, with my driver's side door in my small sedan.

Euphoric-Willow-1120

37. Ditching The Dog

white and brown long coat large dogPhoto by Pauline Loroy on Unsplash

I had just got back home from fishing with the pup all day and realized I needed some stuff to make dinner. I got the dog ready to go again and then thought, "I better just leave you here so you can see Mom when she gets home", and I let him back in the house. Five minutes down the highway, I had a guy pull out in front of me while I was doing 60 mph.

He absolutely demolished my truck. I poked a hole in the windshield with my head, bent the steering column up into the dash with my chest, and broke my knee on the lower dash. My dog would have for sure been ejected; I'm glad he wasn't there!

MountainHipie

38. A Feeling From My Ex

white and black abstract paintingPhoto by Maurice Pehle on Unsplash

Years ago, I was in between houses. I had a new place lined up but it wouldn’t be ready for about six weeks. My little sister lived in the area, so I decided to crash on her couch. My ex and I had been broken up for about six months at that point. It was a decently amicable breakup; we were still in the same friend group and got along.

One night my ex called me up crying, saying she had a feeling something bad was going to happen and asked me to please come spend the night with her. So, at like midnight on a weekday, I got in my car and drove over to calm her down and spend the night. The next morning, I drove back over to my little sister's house and found there were cruisers all up and down the street.

Some idiot had gone cruising, randomly blasting at people's houses. My sister was fine; her room was in the back of the house. However, the couch I stayed on backed up against the front wall, right next to the front door. Sure enough, there were three bullet holes in the couch. Knowing how I like to sleep, I think all three of them would have hit me.

PunkThug

39. Dealing With Captain Sketch

closed gray wooden doorPhoto by MARK ADRIANE on Unsplash

Years ago, I had a dealer who would always ask where I lived. The dude was a bit off, so I avoided specifics when replying. One afternoon, my roommate went along with me, and everything went smoothly until we were about to get into the car. Captain Sketch asked him where we lived, and my roommate blurted out the building and apartment number.

About eight hours later, we were watching The X-Files, and the doorknob started to jiggle. Next thing we knew, we were holding the dealer guy and his buddy until they listened for a bit, and we were sure they understood what was going to happen if they tried that again.

Meanderingversion

40. The Ride Of His Life

silver and black car enginePhoto by Clark Van Der Beken on Unsplash

My cousin was about to leave a party with two other dudes. He opened the car door, and all of a sudden, he decided against it, and he walked back into the house. The two dudes waited for a beat, then left. On their way home, the driver lost control of the car and crashed head-on into a tree. One lost his life on the spot, and the other at the hospital. The car ended up in three major pieces, none of which look like they could occupy a person.

soda_cookie

41. Buckle Up!

black leather car seat with seat beltPhoto by Maxim Hopman on Unsplash

I used to hate wearing seat belts in the passenger seat. One day I was with my friend helping him with a few errands, and he asked me if I wanted to tag along for a drive. I told him no I didn’t feel like it, but he managed to convince me by saying we won't go too far and we would be back in an hour. I guess because I was feeling off, I wore a seat belt. After ten minutes, my friend got distracted and almost ran over someone and swerved hard. We hit a wall, and I'm pretty sure I would have flown through the windshield if I didn't wear a seatbelt that day.

uhh-no123

42. Merging Maniac

cars on road during daytimePhoto by Çağlar Oskay on Unsplash

I was driving on a highway and had a bad feeling about the car next to me. I just felt like they were going to try to merge when I was next to them, even though they gave no indication of doing so and had been driving normally up until that point. A few minutes later, they merged without a signal, but since I was wary of them, I was able to slam on my brakes and avoided being hit.

ranaiki

43. Bed And Brake Fast

cars on road during daytimePhoto by luis enrique on Unsplash

I was driving on a freeway and an SUV pulling a trailer with a king mattress got on and cut me off to get around a slow car. I instantly had a Final Destination moment flash and backed off. A car got mad that I slowed down and was tailgating me angrily. It was super windy, and I saw the mattress start to flap. I put my hazards on to warn the jerk behind me, but he decided to race fast around me and flip me off.

While flipping me off, the mattress flew up about 30 feet in the air and landed right in the middle of the road. I have a tiny car and would probably be gone if I didn't back off far enough AND I saved the jerk’s life. We both calmly swerved onto the shoulders on both sides since we had enough space to be able to react.

aboxofGoldfish

44. I Was Almost Bus-ted

a red bus driving down a street next to a traffic lightPhoto by Brian Jones on Unsplash

When I lived in Toronto, I was about to cross Dufferin. I'd only looked to my right, not my left. I took a step onto the street when I felt this feeling like I needed to go back onto the sidewalk immediately. I took a step back onto the sidewalk and about a foot off the street. Suddenly, a city bus hurtled past my face at what felt like super speed.

Ellidyre

45. Remembering September 11th

text, letterPhoto by Martina Mainetti on Unsplash

On September 11, 2001, I was almost put on Flight 93. I was flying out of Boston the day before to Los Angeles, but the flight was overbooked. They tried to put me on Flight 93 for the next day—September 11. It would have meant staying at my dad's house for the night, and it was the next direct flight. I've been on that flight route many times between Boston and LAX, but I oddly decided to take a flight to the south that would have connected me to LA.

By the time we got to the airport, we missed the connection and were told to stay the night. At that point, I got into a screaming match with the airline. Something in my chest said if I didn't fly out that night, I'd be trapped. They put me on a flight to Vegas, and it was up to me to get to LAX. I got to Vegas, and caught the last direct flight home to LA. I woke up the next day to a new world. I had 20 voicemail messages on my phone from people worried I perished in the crash.

sykospark

46. Punt The Produce And Split

white and red labeled pack on white shelfPhoto by Franki Chamaki on Unsplash

I was tasked by my mother to get groceries from a shop. It was about three to four blocks down from where I was. About 15 feet near the shop, I saw my best friend's father's vehicle—he was a law enforcement officer. I knew from experience that sometimes bad things happen when the force uses private-owned vehicles, and my gut instinct told me to leave immediately.

I ditched getting the groceries and started walking back home; I heard firing from the distance. Later that day, the local news reported that the very shop I was going to was getting burglarized. Officers intervened, hit four of the five suspects and shrapnel injured three pedestrians.

Kozo_Da_Boy

47. I Was A Shoo-In For Doom

man in the middle of bridge looking to his phonePhoto by Tevin Trinh on Unsplash

My first boyfriend and I lived in a medium-ish town in the Midwest, and I was a painfully shy girl. I was head over heels for him. He had a thing for red stilettos, and I wanted to impress him, and bought a pair. He loved them, and I wore them to a lot of places. One particular weekend, we were supposed to go on one of our picnics, but I just wasn’t feeling it; something felt really off.

He was a bit older than me, and I worshiped the ground he walked on, but not that Friday. The more he begged me to go to one of our picnics, the more I refused. My stomach was in knots, and finally, I vomited on our porch, where we were arguing, and he left. Over the next week, people discovered a random red stiletto floating in the river and then a body was fished out. When I learned the truth, I wanted to be sick.

My boyfriend had another girl on the side, and he killed her sometime that weekend. They apparently did the same “picnics” that we did. I could have been in that girl’s place.

fuggystudent18

48. Avoiding A College Catastrophe

laughing people in partyPhoto by Samantha Gades on Unsplash

I had my younger brother visit me in college. We had somewhat of a party house, so we were all having fun playing drinking games. We all passed out late at night after some rounds. I went to my bedroom and my brother fell asleep on the couch. The rest of the partiers were sleeping on couches, on the floor, and in empty bedrooms. I passed out around 1 AM when all of a sudden I woke up.

It was about 3 AM, and I looked around wondering what woke me up. Usually, I’d turn over, and fall back asleep in seconds, but this felt weird. I was wide awake, looking around my dark room, and something was definitely off. I got up and opened the door, slipping out into the living room to investigate. There was nothing unusual. But I knew there had to be a reason.

I stepped into the living room and saw my brother sleeping on his back on the couch, head cocked up nestled over the arm of the couch. I looked around for a sec; there was nothing odd about the front door and nothing out the windows. Then, mere moments after entering that room, my brother started gurgling, dry heaving, and began to vomit.

I rushed over to him, turning him over onto his side, making sure it was all coming out onto the floor. I shook him awake, cleaned him up, assured him it was fine, and waited for him to fall back asleep. I cleaned up the floor and couch and then proceeded to sit and watch him for the rest of the night. That was the night I trusted my gut, and I’m glad I didn’t go back to bed.

DKalosc

49. A Lesson In Intuition

girl swims on swimming poolPhoto by Raj Rana on Unsplash

Back in 2010, I was supposed to attend a swimming lesson since it was the first lesson at the institute that day. Also, my mom was supposed to go to work as usual. I, for some reason, got a feeling of dread and decided to laze around the entire day and stayed home. My mom wasn't feeling well, so she didn't go to work either. It was on the 29th of March and we lived in Russia.

Just a couple of hours later, my worried aunt called us to say that there were explosions on the Moscow subway. Two radicals blew themselves up along with a lot of people on Park Kultury and Lubyanka stations. The pool I was supposed to be at was at Park Kultury, and I would've arrived there right around the time the devices went off.

BrowningBDA9

50. Cause For Celebration

woman in bathtubPhoto by Taisiia Stupak on Unsplash

My girlfriend and I had returned to our hotel room from a long night out bar hopping, searching for a place to celebrate NYE the next night. My girlfriend was completely trashed. She wanted to take a shower before going to bed, and I sat on the edge of the bed, laid back, and fell asleep. If I’m plastered, once I'm asleep, I will not be waking up for the next four hours minimum, however, this night was different.

I was RIPPED awake out of nowhere with a horrible feeling in my gut. Something was VERY WRONG. I immediately ran to the bathroom, where I saw the tub overflowing and my ex with her lips and nose floating millimeters above the surface of the water in the tub. Her foot and leg had stopped the drain, so I immediately grabbed her up. She was barely conscious; I dried her off and put her to bed. If I hadn't grabbed her up, I'm certain she would have drowned.

IrregularHumanBeingg

People Reveal The Weirdest Thing About Themselves

Reddit user Isitjustmedownhere asked: 'Give an example; how weird are you really?'

Let's get one thing straight: no one is normal. We're all weird in our own ways, and that is actually normal.

Of course, that doesn't mean we don't all have that one strange trait or quirk that outweighs all the other weirdness we possess.

For me, it's the fact that I'm almost 30 years old, and I still have an imaginary friend. Her name is Sarah, she has red hair and green eyes, and I strongly believe that, since I lived in India when I created her and there were no actual people with red hair around, she was based on Daphne Blake from Scooby-Doo.

I also didn't know the name Sarah when I created her, so that came later. I know she's not really there, hence the term 'imaginary friend,' but she's kind of always been around. We all have conversations in our heads; mine are with Sarah. She keeps me on task and efficient.

My mom thinks I'm crazy that I still have an imaginary friend, and writing about her like this makes me think I may actually be crazy, but I don't mind. As I said, we're all weird, and we all have that one trait that outweighs all the other weirdness.

Redditors know this all too well and are eager to share their weird traits.

It all started when Redditor Isitjustmedownhere asked:

"Give an example; how weird are you really?"

Monsters Under My Bed

"My bed doesn't touch any wall."

"Edit: I guess i should clarify im not rich."

– Practical_Eye_3600

"Gosh the monsters can get you from any angle then."

– bikergirlr7

"At first I thought this was a flex on how big your bedroom is, but then I realized you're just a psycho 😁"

– zenOFiniquity8

Can You See Why?

"I bought one of those super-powerful fans to dry a basement carpet. Afterwards, I realized that it can point straight up and that it would be amazing to use on myself post-shower. Now I squeegee my body with my hands, step out of the shower and get blasted by a wide jet of room-temp air. I barely use my towel at all. Wife thinks I'm weird."

– KingBooRadley

Remember

"In 1990 when I was 8 years old and bored on a field trip, I saw a black Oldsmobile Cutlass driving down the street on a hot day to where you could see that mirage like distortion from the heat on the road. I took a “snapshot” by blinking my eyes and told myself “I wonder how long I can remember this image” ….well."

– AquamarineCheetah

"Even before smartphones, I always take "snapshots" by blinking my eyes hoping I'll remember every detail so I can draw it when I get home. Unfortunately, I may have taken so much snapshots that I can no longer remember every detail I want to draw."

"Makes me think my "memory is full.""

– Reasonable-Pirate902

Same, Same

"I have eaten the same lunch every day for the past 4 years and I'm not bored yet."

– OhhGoood

"How f**king big was this lunch when you started?"

– notmyrealnam3

Not Sure Who Was Weirder

"Had a line cook that worked for us for 6 months never said much. My sous chef once told him with no context, "Baw wit da baw daw bang daw bang diggy diggy." The guy smiled, left, and never came back."

– Frostygrunt

Imagination

"I pace around my house for hours listening to music imagining that I have done all the things I simply lack the brain capacity to do, or in some really bizarre scenarios, I can really get immersed in these imaginations sometimes I don't know if this is some form of schizophrenia or what."

– RandomSharinganUser

"I do the same exact thing, sometimes for hours. When I was young it would be a ridiculous amount of time and many years later it’s sort of trickled off into almost nothing (almost). It’s weird but I just thought it’s how my brain processes sh*t."

– Kolkeia

If Only

"Even as an adult I still think that if you are in a car that goes over a cliff; and right as you are about to hit the ground if you jump up you can avoid the damage and will land safely. I know I'm wrong. You shut up. I'm not crying."

– ShotCompetition2593

Pet Food

"As a kid I would snack on my dog's Milkbones."

– drummerskillit

"Haha, I have a clear memory of myself doing this as well. I was around 3 y/o. Needless to say no one was supervising me."

– Isitjustmedownhere

"When I was younger, one of my responsibilities was to feed the pet fish every day. Instead, I would hide under the futon in the spare bedroom and eat the fish food."

– -GateKeep-

My Favorite Subject

"I'm autistic and have always had a thing for insects. My neurotypical best friend and I used to hang out at this local bar to talk to girls, back in the late 90s. One time he claimed that my tendency to circle conversations back to insects was hurting my game. The next time we went to that bar (with a few other friends), he turned and said sternly "No talking about bugs. Or space, or statistics or other bullsh*t but mainly no bugs." I felt like he was losing his mind over nothing."

"It was summer, the bar had its windows open. Our group hit it off with a group of young ladies, We were all chatting and having a good time. I was talking to one of these girls, my buddy was behind her facing away from me talking to a few other people."

"A cloudless sulphur flies in and lands on little thing that holds coasters."

"Cue Jordan Peele sweating gif."

"The girl notices my tension, and asks if I am looking at the leaf. "Actually, that's a lepidoptera called..." I looked at the back of my friend's head, he wasn't looking, "I mean a butterfly..." I poked it and it spread its wings the girl says "oh that's a BUG?!" and I still remember my friend turning around slowly to look at me with chastisement. The ONE thing he told me not to do."

"I was 21, and was completely not aware that I already had a rep for being an oddball. It got worse from there."

– Phormicidae

*Teeth Chatter*

"I bite ice cream sometimes."

RedditbOiiiiiiiiii

"That's how I am with popsicles. My wife shudders every single time."

monobarreller

Never Speak Of This

"I put ice in my milk."

– GTFOakaFOD

"You should keep that kind of thing to yourself. Even when asked."

– We-R-Doomed

"There's some disturbing sh*t in this thread, but this one takes the cake."

– RatonaMuffin

More Than Super Hearing

"I can hear the television while it's on mute."

– Tira13e

"What does it say to you, child?"

– Mama_Skip

Yikes!

"I put mustard on my omelettes."

– Deleted User

"Oh."

– NotCrustOr-filling

Evened Up

"Whenever I say a word and feel like I used a half of my mouth more than the other half, I have to even it out by saying the word again using the other half of my mouth more. If I don't do it correctly, that can go on forever until I feel it's ok."

"I do it silently so I don't creep people out."

– LesPaltaX

"That sounds like a symptom of OCD (I have it myself). Some people with OCD feel like certain actions have to be balanced (like counting or making sure physical movements are even). You should find a therapist who specializes in OCD, because they can help you."

– MoonlightKayla

I totally have the same need for things to be balanced! Guess I'm weird and a little OCD!

Close up face of a woman in bed, staring into the camera
Photo by Jen Theodore

Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.

Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?

But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.

It would be so great to be sure there is something else.

But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.

Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:

"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"

Sensations

Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy

"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."

PeachesnPain

Recovery

"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."

"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."

"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."

good_golly99

Take Me Back

"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."

"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."

rayrayrayray

Free

The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy

"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."

TooReDTooHigh

This is why I hate surgery.

You just never know.

Shocked

Giphy

"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."

Admirable_Buyer6528

The SOB

"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."

"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”

1-cupcake-at-a-time

Colors

"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"

Hannah_LL7

"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"

huntokarrr

The Fog

"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."

"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."

Fluffy-Hotel-5184

Through the Walls

"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."

"She's quite alive and well today."

Hot-Refrigerator6583

Well let's all be happy to be alive.

It seems to be all we have.

Man's waist line
Santhosh Vaithiyanathan/Unsplash

Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.

The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.

Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.

Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:

"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"

Redditors didn't see these coming.

Shiver Me Timbers

"I’m always cold now!"

– Telrom_1

"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."

– r7ndom

"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."

– mr_remy

Drawing Concern

"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."

– dee-fondy

"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"

"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."

– LizardofDeath

Unleashing Insults

"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”

"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."

– alanamablamaspama

Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight

"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."

– KeltarCentauri

"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."

– KatMagic1977

"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."

– Jaew96

These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.

Shopping

"I can buy clothes in any store I want."

– WaySavvyD

"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."

– ganache98012

No More Symptoms

"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."

– colleennicole93

Expanding Capabilities

"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."

– Ramblonius

People Change Their Tune

"How much nicer people are to you."

"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"

– LiZZygsu

"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"

"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"

– awholedamngarden

It's gonna take some getting used to.

Bones Everywhere

"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."

– Princess-Pancake-97

"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."

– bekastrange

Knee Pillow

"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."

– snic2030

"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."

– Strongbad23

More Mobility

"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."

"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."

– dma1965

People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.

But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.

That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.